Samuel Ronan wants you to think he's a Republican. He's not.
Nine years ago, Samuel Ronan was running to be the boss of the entire Democratic Party. Now he's decided he's a Republican, and he wants a seat in Congress. He’s running against Rep. Mike Carey, the Republican incumbent in Ohio's 15th Congressional District, in the May 5 Republican primary.
Ronan says his values "match the Republican Party of yesterday." However, he can't find a Republican he agrees with today.
Perhaps the more revealing, Ronan posted on Facebook that leftists should infiltrate Republican spaces and run in their primaries. He said it loud and clear on the record. And then he turned around and tried to do exactly that. That's not a plot twist. That's an admission. It’s evidence.
But this story has a second rogue actor.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose kicked Ronan off the ballot, and the way he did it actually created a big political mess.
Here’s the timeline of this primary fiasco: Ronan was officially certified as a candidate on February 17. On March 6, the Board of Elections held a vote to remove him and tied 2-2. A tie means Ronan stays. He stayed. The matter was referred to LaRose on March 13. And then LaRose did nothing for nearly two weeks. He had the power to act, but he didn’t. He waited until late in the afternoon on March 19, just hours before military and overseas ballots had to be finalized, and then delivered a sudden tiebreaking vote to throw Ronan off the ballot.
Ronan found out from news reports and LaRose's own social media post.
Kavanaugh's ruling was blunt: LaRose created this mess himself. Ronan had been on the ballot without interruption since February 17. He wasn't trying to change anything. He was trying to stay exactly where he already was. LaRose is the one who blew up the status quo at the last possible second, without even bothering to notify Ronan directly. In Kavanaugh's view, that's on the Secretary of State.
In the end, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, referred the application to the full court, which denied Ronan’s request.
So here we are, a conservative judge was forced to rule on a fake Republican — a situation that never would have happened if the Republican Secretary of State had simply done his job on time.
And there you have it, politics in 2026.